… head on down to the CD Release show for the Failing Records: A Compilation of Portland Music, Volume 5 at the Backspace. A wide ranging selection of 44 different bands are on two discs, and the collection is curated completely by Portlander Hank Failing. This year’s Failing Records compilation release party has Palo Verde, the Metal Shakespeare Company, Southern Belle, and Bark Hide and Horn taking the stage. It starts at 8pm, it’s all-ages, and it’s free.

The complete list of bands on the compilation is:

Southern Belle , Dykeritz, Andy Combs And The Moth, Bark Hide and Horn, Annen Berg, Randy B , Per Se, Telescope Vehicle, Starfucker, The Subterranean Howl, World’s, Greatest Ghosts, Narwhal vs. Narwahal, Blue Horns , Broadsides, The Morals, Quiet Countries, Dirty Mittens, Nick Caceres, The Rainy States, Wooden Nickel, Alan Singley, Cloudspotter, Dracula, Hey Lover, The Taxpayers, Federale, The Prids, Chrome Wings, The Golden Greats, Trio Subtonic, Vanishing Kids, Michele Wylen, Drats!!!, Michael Dean Damron & Thee Loyal Bastards, Vanderbuilte, The Headliners, HipHop 1-5, Diarrhea And Lil Fatso, Wilding, X’s for I’s, Palo Verde, The Metal Shakespeare Company, Pinkzilla, and Hot Victory.

 
Here it is folks, the end all and be all…our Top 25 Northwest Albums of 2008. While numbers 6 through 25 were highly contentious, there was unanimity as to the Top 5 Northwest Albums of 2008 and their order. There’s no doubt in our minds, that no band deserves the accolades more than The Moondoggies. Their album Don’t Be A Stranger is an instant classic in the vein of Music from Big Pink. We expect 2009 to be even bigger than 2008 for The Moondoggies, and we can’t wait to see what comes next from them, as well as the other great bands that made this years list.

1. The Moondoggies - Don’t Be A Stranger |myspace|
2. J. Tillman - Vacilando Territory Blues |myspace|
3. Wild Orchid Children - S/T EP |myspace|
4. The Dutchess and The Duke - She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke |myspace|
5. Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground - S/T LP  |myspace|
6. Fleet Foxes - S/T LP |myspace|
7. See Me River - Time Machine |myspace|
8. Whore Moans - Hello From the Radio Wasteland |myspace|
9. Starfucker - S/T LP |myspace|
10. Jake One - White Van Music |myspace|
11. Blind Pilot  - 3 Rounds and a Sound |myspace|
12. Thee Emergency - SOLID |myspace|
12. Sera Cahoone - Only As The Day Is Long |myspace| 
13. Horse Feathers - House with No Home |myspace|
14. The Pica Beats  - Bring Back the Claws |myspace|
15. Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams |myspace|
16. Das Llamas - Class Wars: K-12 |myspace|
17. The Builders and The Butchers - S/T LP (re-released nationally 7/08) |myspace|
18. Saturday Knights - Mingle |myspace|
19. The New Faces - S/T LP |myspace|
20. Damien Jurado - Caught In Trees |myspace|
21. Bark Hide and Horn - National Road |myspace|
22. Grand Archives - S/T LP |myspace|
23. Hey Marseilles - To Travels & Trunks |myspace|
24. The Hands - S/T LP  |myspace|
25. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Future of Love  |myspace|

Since there were so many incredible local releases this year, it would’ve been negligent to not have a solely local Best Songs of 2008 list. I expanded the idea of ‘local’ to go beyond Seattle and include our musical neighbors to the south, Portland. Hope you enjoy my first Best of list of 2008, more lists coming soon!

1. The Moondoggies - Changin’

2. Wild Orchid Children - Birth of a Cabin

3. The Dutchess and The Duke - Resevoir Park

4. Kay Kay and His Weathered Undergound - Night of The Star Child’s Funk

5. The Whore Moans - Nerve Tonic!

6. J. Tillman - Steel on Steel

7. The Fleet Foxes- Mykonos

8. Sera Cahoone - Only As The Day Is Long

9. See Me River - Don’t Pray For Blood

10. The Hands - Praying Hands Make Fist (Or Be Chopped Off)

11. Blue Scholars - Butter & Guns

12. Bark Hide and Horn - Trumpeter Swan

13. Thee Emergency - Hopped Up For The Git Down 

14. The Builders & The Butchers - Bringin’ Home The Rain

15. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Stay in School

16. Shy In Sunshine - Recognition

17. We Wrote The Book on Connectors - Mimosas

18. Starfucker - Pop Song

19. The New Faces - Impulse

20. Hey Marseilles - Rio

(p.s.) According to my Itunes, my most listened to local track of 2008 is Kay Kay’s: Night of The Star Child’s Funk.

See Me River - Time Machine
The Lonely Forest - “We Sing In Time”
Monotonix - “Ride”
Land of Talk - “Corner Phone”
Noah and The Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down
The Maldives - “I Have Found”
The Moondoggies - Don’t Be a Stranger
Bark Hide and Horn - “Treasure of the Everglades”
J. Tillman - “Minor Works” and “Steel on Steel”
Kaylee Cole - “The Car Wreck Song”